Hello, long days and bright mornings! The season of brunch has arrived (yes!), and our friends at Turner Hardy & Co - the brains behind the Spiced Tomato Juice in March’s Gin of the Month box - have the all-day cocktail gin lovers have been missing in their lives! That’s right… The Red Snapper!
Eddie Turner and Hugo Hardman are childhood friends who love everything Hampshire, drinking Red Snappers and having long brunches with their friends.
Using gin instead of vodka makes for a tomato-based cocktail as apt at brunch as it is after dark. But, according to Eddie and Hugo, this versatile, crowd-pleasing cocktail has flown under the radar for too long - and we’re inclined to agree with them!
So just what is a Red Snapper?
As an American invention - famed bartender Ferdinand “Pete” Petitot invented this blood-red bevvy at the St. Regis Hotel in New York City - the Red Snapper has always fared better stateside. It’s spicy, savoury and elaborately garnished, and US-based gin lovers could count on their cocktail being blended to perfection with top-grade tomato juice.
“Red Snappers are a delight that the British public has been deprived of for a long time. It’s because most of the juice that’s left over from tomatoes grown on the continent is turned into concentrate and put into cartons before it gets here to the UK, so the quality isn’t high enough to really complement the gin.””
The Best of British
It’s just this kind of quality that Eddie and Hugo are now bringing to the UK. As two passionate ‘vine guys’, they’re taking beautiful tomatoes grown on the Isle of Wight and pressing them at the perfect stage of ripeness to make tomato juice the likes of which most gin fans in the UK have never tried.
On the farm, the tomatoes are pollinated by British bees and grown in greenhouses that recycle the heat and carbon dioxide from local power generators. Later, every piece of the growing process is recycled into compost for the next year’s growth. They also use the blemished tomatoes - which grow on the bit of the plant that’s been hidden from the sun - as well as any that can’t be sold as a complete vine. Even wonky tomatoes create juices that actually taste of tomato!
“Our juice doesn’t overpower the wonderful flavours of gin, so it’s the perfect mixer for an all-day cocktail. The Red Snapper (or Bloody Margaret., as it’s also known) is often drunk at brunch or on airplanes, but our juices make them easy and delicious to enjoy at home.”
Spring Snapper
Ingredients
35ml gin
15ml Fino (Dry) Sherry (optional)
10ml lemon juice
100ml Turner Hardy & Co Feisty Tomato Mix
Garnish: Dried elderflower, lavender sprig, lemon wheel, pickled onions, basil and crushed black pepper
Method
Build your drink in a roomy glass, over ice, and garnish gloriously!
Shake up your garnish game with a few of these wild Red Snapper garnish ideas!
Rosemary, Chilli, Lemon, Olive and Cheese
Pop a chunk of your preferred British cheese and an olive on a cocktail stick, and add a wedge of lemon, sprig of home-grown rosemary and chilli - you could replace chilli with carrot or pepper, should you prefer!
Cheeseburger!
Garnishes don’t get much crazier than a mini burger on the side of your Red Snapper! Why stop there? Sandwiches, pitta bread, tortilla wraps - there’s no limits when it comes to how you garnish your Snappers!
Bacon, Olive and Onion
Oh boy! Brunch is served… on the edge of your cocktail! Coat the rim of your glass in crushed black peppercorns, grill a rasher of bacon and pop it into your Red Snapper, add some cocktail onions and olives (or a mini scotch egg?!) to a cocktail stick and, hey presto, you’ve got this tasty concoction!
COMPETITION
Win gin AND a case of Turner Hardy & Co Feisty Spiced Tomato Mix
Share your wildest Red Snapper garnishes (and feel free to take some (g)inspiration from those above) on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram tagging @craftginclub and @turnerhardyco for a chance to win free gin and a case of Turner Hardy & Co Feisty Spiced Tomato Mix!
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